🔗 Share this article

The Mortal Kombat series still possesses its share of secrets and the capacity to surprise, over three decades after its first appearance in gaming halls. The recent anthology including the brand's formative years, which includes four original arcade titles, several home system versions, and derivative games, goes beyond simply a faithfully reproduced series of classics including less celebrated releases — it's also a rich documentary about the making of the legendary series.

As a dedicated enthusiast of the series who has carefully followed its creation and evolution, there was much to discover for me to learn and appreciate about the series.

What Constitutes the Legacy Kollection

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection similar to other vintage game anthologies from the development team Digital Eclipse, part documentary, portion interactive museum. This compilation features emulated versions of the first arcade Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat 4, along with home system and portable adaptations of several of these titles. This compilation also features the series' ventures at derivative games, like combat-focused releases Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero and Mortal Kombat: Special Forces — two of the franchise's worst entries.

The Legacy Kollection is therefore not a highlight reel anthology, but a study of Mortal Kombat's early days, when developer Midway and franchise originators the creative duo behind the series were figuring out how to develop a battle series, created from video recordings of live performers, on the fly. Viewing the historical footage — containing historical videos, recent conversations, and scans of old flyers, illustrated stories, and even company memos — it's incredible to witness how Mortal Kombat went from modest origins to a worldwide phenomenon. It's truly remarkable to see a group of early video game creators, developing without clear direction or guidance, focus their cultural enthusiasms into birthing an iconic game franchise.

Educational Component

The documentary portion of Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection charts the rise of Mortal Kombat and the founders' vocational paths at the no-longer-operating Midway. It subsequently demonstrates how those same creators reckoned with how to routinely one-up themselves, encountering significant pressure to repeat their achievements. It's a fascinating time capsule composed of analog films and film-based pictures and hand-drawn illustrations, which reveal the self-made character of the franchise's production method and how personal recommendations helped spread its rumors and undisclosed elements of the series in its peak period in gaming halls. Told in bite-sized chunks, it's an eminently watchable collection of mini-documentaries that includes titles, illustrated stories, cinematic adaptations and even the silly live-action tour. The compilation also contains some never-implemented techniques and game character images among its previously unreleased material.

Playable Component

Distributed throughout the five-part documentary's timeline are opportunities to engage with the games themselves. During specific moments, users can directly access a game of Mortal Kombat or a home system version to revisit its gameplay and artistic style, simulated with remarkable precision on modern hardware.

I dedicated most of my time playing the arcade classics, specifically Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat 2, and Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3. Numerous titles here hold up, notably with one-on-one local play. Yet competing with the computer-controlled adversaries in these titles is a reminder of how crude and unfair the programming was in early Mortal Kombat games. Computer-directed fighters blatantly cheat to win or are alternatively incredibly stupid. If you don't have another person to compete with — internet multiplayer exists in numerous anthology releases, but too light on features — you'll miss the full enjoyment.

Technical Presentation

The 23 playable Mortal Kombat games in the compilation, a mix of coin-op, home system, and portable titles, are faithfully recreated, though I detected a couple minor issues — mainly control latency and intermittent errors, notably within Mortal Kombat 4. Although the titles are mostly shown in their original form, developer Digital Eclipse has incorporated various clever quality-of-life features and display customization choices. As an illustration, players have the option to show each character's special moves during gameplay and choose to enable unlimited duration to execute finishing moves. There are also options for accessing hidden fighters, removing the requirement to complete complicated methods to unlock them.

Graphically, the titles can be played with a variety of graphical effects and display options. Mortal Kombat: Legacy Kollection includes remarkably accurate options that simulate the cathode-ray tube displays of arcades or household displays, or the limited color monitor of a Nintendo handheld. A notably appreciated element is the choice to enable arcade-like bezels encircling the display, with the specific combat game you're playing accurately and softly reflecting against the simulated dark plastic edges. It's quite aesthetically pleasing.

Extra Content

The collection includes numerous welcome features besides the educational material and simulated classic games, featuring an audio component that lets you revisit the music from multiple Mortal Kombat games without the din of fighters brutally eliminating opponents. There are also character profiles that include bios and numerous narrative components presented by the demo sequences of coin-op titles and conclusions.

Lost Media Recovery

Among the most significant features for committed franchise followers is the opportunity to play a segment of previously unavailable content in the guise of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 Wavenet Edition. This specific release, a somewhat revised iteration of Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, was an pioneering effort from the developer at head-to-head network battles in coin-op establishments. The Wavenet Edition of the game is virtually identical to UMK3, but provided the ability to challenge online opponents and included some minor error corrections and adjustments. Yet this online edition never gained traction, in part